Astronaut Stan Love is out of this world. He’s got it covered from space walks, to robot arm operations, to making sure the heat shield is just right for re-entry. In this segment of Why Music Matters, Dr. Love shares a story about music and space travel. Far out!

Listen now:

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Dr. Love is such a fan of music that he created this own Playlist for Space Travel:

You can also read more about Dr. Stan Love on his official NASA biography. Sigh, he’s so dreamy!

Music used in this piece: “Space Oddity” by David Bowie, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” by Steely Dan, “Hello Earth” by Kate Bush, “Riding on a Rocket” by Shonen Knife.

If you like this, check out more stories coming soon in the Why Music Matters story series.

Produced by Anna Boiko-Weyrauch, 2010 AIR Live Interactive Resident. Editorial oversight by Kevin Cole. Engineering help from Matt Ogaz. Live Interactive is a collaboration of KEXP and AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio with financial support from AIR members worldwide, Recovery.gov, and the National Endowment for the Arts which believe a great nation deserves great art.

not gonna lie, I’ve heard about this astronaut and how he is a kexp fan before.

you all play him up in your pledge drives (which you should, not many stations can say their CDs go to space!).

But I also wonder if your new production series should cover stuff we haven’t heard in the kexp world. Push us forward in “why music matters”. Go to rehearsals in peoples’ basements, get those verite moments on a walk in a park or something. laying some old dude’s story over david bowie can be done by a lot of people. I’m a little disappointed.

Hi Loyal KEXP,
This is just the first story. There are plenty of verite moments coming up which feature music in an operating room, in sacred scriptures of Yoruba religion, late at night under the covers of a tortured teenager, and even in Iran.
I hope you’ll keep listening this and next month.
Thanks,
Anna